How pupils with special educational needs are more likely to see their schools close

Nine-year-old Blake is trying to climb over the locked gates of his former primary school, St Dominic's in Hackney, when we meet him. It closed last year due to falling pupil numbers. The playground is overgrown, and the modular buildings stand quiet and empty. When the school closed, Blake found the loss of his community particularly difficult. He is autistic and has ADHD. This means he can find a change in routine and managing his emotions more challenging. His mum Christina says he's still struggling with the closure. "When he started his new school he started getting up four to seven times a night because of the anxiety of being in a new school with new people he doesn't know," she says. "He was just like a little nervous wreck." Now, she says his emotions are "playing up more", and he sees his new school as "not my school". Though he has made some new friends, "he's scared to open up again in case that friend gets taken away". More than 100 state-funded schools in England have closed over the past five years, which many analysts suggest is largely driven by declining birth rates. A recent National Audit Office (NAO) report says pupil numbers have fallen by 3% since 2018-19, an